Specs for a direct NAS file editing network?

[isitthesun]

Saw a Linus video that showed his video editing team with their own editing PCs work directly off of files on their NAS/server. Would like to know if something similar but with much smaller scale is possible, and what are some cheaper options to achieve good result for non network people like my team, compared to Linus' full on specialized equipment for his gigantic team.

1. 6-8 3D drafters/designers all with dedicated PCs working directly off of files saved on NAS itself, 2 dedicated PCs will render works on the finished drafts/designs saved on NAS. File size ranges from 300mb to 2gb. Hoping to get similar 'working speed' compared to working on files on local pc SSD.

2. What do we need? Am I missing some parts/components? : dedicated network switch, NAS (plug n play like synology for non pro like us), extra ram, SSD for NAS, LAN cables

- spec/grade for network switch, 1gbps? 10gbps? How much is enough for smooth direct editing/rendering of file on NAS from PC.

- we have 10 PCs connecting to a NAS, does it mean 10 port switch is good enough?

- NAS spec/grade: what components are the most important for our use case that we should prioritize? CPU? Specified network transfer speed?

- RAM for NAS spec/grade: how much RAM and how fast they need to be for our use case?

- SSD spec/grade: we plan to cap the shared storage to around 3-4tb, will be cleaning/clearing excess files. Are basic pc SSD sufficient? How much storage should be get? Should we be getting 8tb for RAID?

- Do we need to get specialized LAN cables?

I'm totally new in NAS/server and has been clawing together some basic knowledge online but a lot of what i found were either home storage or more advanced big networks which were probably overkill for our smaller team, spec and price wise. Even the NAS CPUs are different from the usual i5/Ryzen7 I know.

Thanks in advance for any guidance and tips, patient, clear and in depth explanations for a layman is very much appreciated!

[aggie113]

10Gbps connection would be best to insure everyone has a good chance of taking advantage of the NAS.  For SSD type speed you can either get a NAS that supports 10-12 (or more) spinning rust discs (7200rpm of course) or a smaller NAS that supports a number of m.2 drives.  If you can say for certain your space needs will not exceed 4TB anytime soon (3 years is a good cycle), then I would say the m.2 option makes most sense.  Cost-wise, RAM will be an afterthought.  You'll certainly want plenty of it.  If you don't want to fully commit to a RAM loadout, then start with half the sticks you can populate it with but with the size that would be used if fully populated.  That way nothing gets wasted if you do upgrade it.  When specing out the m.2 drives, get ones that have a high read/write guarantee to help minimize possible issues with overuse.  For the networking you can cheap out and just do fiber.  Depending on distances and quality, your Cat 5 might be able to do 10Gb, but a safer bet would be CAT6 for certain distances.